(a) Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a fan motor. More specifically, it relates to a fan motor that is capable of lowering the manufacturing costs due to a simple manufacturing process, and is capable of preventing noise and vibration, by minimizing the vertical movement of a shaft.
(b) Background Art
In general, a motor that is used for blowing the cold air of a refrigerator or circulating the internal and external air of any device is called as a fan motor. In many cases, such a fan motor is installed at a humid place or at an environment where dew condensation occurs depending on the temperature change. Thus, since moisture may penetrate into the motor to cause failures, various structures for preventing the failures have been studied.
Korean Patent Nos. 10-0511324 and 10-1074935 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,577,031 disclose a technique for fabricating a motor housing through the resin molding by insert injection, together with a motor stator and a printed circuit board. According to these patents, since the motor housing is manufactured through the resin molding such that the stator and the printed circuit board are buried in the interior of the housing, they have an efficient structure to prevent the moisture from penetrating into the inside of the motor.
However, when manufacturing the motor by the above-described insert injection, there is a problem of increases in the process and the cost required for the insert injection, such as fabricating a molding die. Moreover, since the method needs the insert injection process, there are difficulties in automating the entire processes.
In addition, in the fan motor according to the prior art, a shaft which rotates together with the rotor may be moved in a vertical direction, i.e., in an axial direction. The rotation of the fan may become slightly unstable due to the axial movement of the shaft, and the noise and vibration may occur accordingly.
In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present inventors suggest a fan motor of a novel structure that can be manufactured without depending on the insert injection process and prevent the movement of the shaft.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.